A young man was racing down the fields of Africa at superspeed. Much faster than any regular human. Passing a field of animals, he reached his friends, who were playing a game of ball. One tried to kick the ball past him, but his speed allowed him to catch up to it.

"Try again!" The speedster joked.

"Stop moving so fast." One of his friends replied.

"That wasn't so fast." Another claimed.

As they kept on enjoying their fun, by the mountainside, a tear in reality made itself known.

"The mountain." The fast mutant gasped at the sudden green that appeared in his peripheral.

"What do you see?" His friend asked him.

"It's blowing apart!" He pointed to the green portal that appeared.

They all turned to see the portal, and to their utter disbelief, something came out. A ghost of large stature glared at them with its red eyes. He wore black gloves and metallic armor on his torso, which was decorated with spikes and a lightning-shaped V. His lower half was just a ghostly tail that resembled a tornado.

The three kids all squirmed in terror as the ghost approached them.

Back at the institute in the War Room, Danny was checking the radar. He had recently installed a new program that allowed him to detect ghosts. After Technus's unexpected return, he thought it would be prudent to make sure there weren't more causing a ruckus somewhere else in the world.

As he was searching, he came across a signature. "Something very odd is happening in that part of Africa." He told Jean.

Jean, who was connected to Cerebro, tried to pick up the presence. "I can't see it; only sense it. It's curious; that wasn't there before."

"It's possible that it could be the result of a natural ghost portal." Danny said, recalling what he had learned about the topic from Frostbite. "Sometimes they open up randomly, letting out ghosts who were in the portal's path on the other side."

"Danny! Jean!" Rogue called as she walked in. "Look what this cat drug in!"

The newly recovered Storm entered the room and greeted her friends. "Hello, Danny, Jean. I have missed you."

Danny smiled. "We missed you too, Storm. Out of the hospital so soon?"

Rogue chuckled. "She told Beast she'd flood the kitchen if they didn't release her." Her attention was then caught by the monitor. "Hey, what's this light?"

"It's a ghost." Danny explained. "I just had it tuned to look for any ectoplasmic signatures after our encounter with Technus." He looked at the screen and saw how high the ghost's ectoplasmic reading was. "Look's like this fella is a strong one."

"How is it that ghosts can show up whenever they want to?" Rogue asked curiously. "Don't they need a portal like we do?"

"Not really." Danny answered. "Sometimes ghosts can manifest themselves in the living world instead of the Ghost Zone. Other times, it's due to natural ghost portals that occur. They appear randomly and can stay open for as long or as little as they like. While some ghosts can make their own portals." Danny said, reminded of Wulf and his natural ability.

Rogue took in this information. "So what's he doing in Africa, sight-seeing?"

"Who knows?" Danny replied. "It could be trying to finish some unfinished business, or it fell into a portal and wound up there by accident."

"You think it's one of your old foes from your solo adventuring days?" Rogue asked.

Danny shook his head. "No, I don't think it's one of them."

Storm looked at the screen and recognized the location. Her eyes widened. "No! Mjnari!

The kids were running away from their pursuer.

"We must warn the village." Mjnari said before the ghost appeared in their path. It grabbed Mjnari by his ankle and pulled him closer.

"Help!" Mjnari cried out.

The ghost then entered Mjnari's body as his eyes glowed red.

"Mjnari?" One of his friends asked timidly.

Mjnari turned to them and laughed in an otherworldly-sounding voice.

A boat was flowing down the river in Brazil as the captain, who had a monkey on his shoulder for some reason, listened to the story of his newest customer. "Now let me get this straight. You're looking for someone, but you don't know what he looks like cause he can look like anybody. He's not one of them mutants, is he? People here don't like..." He saw his monkey steal his cracker. "Hey Montgomery! He never done that before."

The boat then reached the dock as the captain said some last words to his customer. "Any stranger who comes this far upriver, I'd remember, whatever they looked like."

Wolverine smelled a familiar scent. "Morph was here." He said to himself.

The captain turned around to say goodbye, only to see that Wolverine was gone without a trace. "Well, I'll be..."

In Tanzania, which was located in the city of Dodoma, Danny, Rogue, and Storm flew above the city as they made their way to Storm's village.

Rogue was thinking about what had happened recently. "First you get that weird ecto-signature from this part of Africa."

"And my village calls with an emergency." Storm added.

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out there's a connection." Rogue pointed out.

"But what?" Storm wondered.

"I don't know, but we're sure going to find out what it is." Danny stated.

As they got closer, they stopped in the air as they saw the villages on fire.

"The villages!" Storm yelled in sorrow. "Nature, respond to my command! A wall of rain to quench the flames!"

With this command, the fires were put out, ending the villager's misfortune.

Rogue had flown down and prevented a wall from falling on some cattle. "There you go, boys and girls."

As the villagers came out of their homes, one of them saw Storm and recognized her. "Storm, it is good you have come."

"I can't believe it!" Storm brought her in for a hug.

Rogue and Danny had finished questioning the other villagers as they came up to Storm.

"These folks tell me there's a kid with an attitude causing all this mess." Rogue informed her.

"It looks like we've identified our ghost, and he's not particularly friendly." Danny said.

"Shani, what is happening here?" Storm asked the woman.

Shani looked down. "It is Mjnari."

"No!" Storm exclaimed.

"Okay, show us where this Mjnari character's at, and Danny here will make sure he'll stop haunting you nice folks." Rogue said, thinking that the mission was halfway over. "Teach him some manners."

Rogue was about to fly off before Storm stopped her. "No, wait! This boy is my son."

Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Your son's a ghost? You have a son?"

Danny had a horrified expression on his face. "Oh god, your son is dead. I'm so sorry, Storm. I know what it's like to lose family, and that pain is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy..."

Storm interrupted him. "No! My son is alive." She stopped. "At least I hope so."

Up by the mountain, the possessed Mjnari sensed Storm's presence. "A weather witch?" It pondered. "Well, isn't this a shocking turn of events?" It then looked through Mjnari's memories. "Hmm. Look's like I found a better candidate." It wheezed.

Back in Brazil, Wolverine passed a hut where he saw two annoyed men walking out. But what caught his attention was a familiar voice.

"Every night at five o'clock, he turns into a bar! Get it?"

"I don't believe it." Wolverine said as he looked at a rugged bartender.

"Everybody's a critic." The bartender grumbled that no one laughed at his joke.

"Spring break's over, Morph." Wolverine confronted him. "You're coming with me."

"I don't think so, old man." Morph reverted back to his true form. "I figured you might follow me. You never were very bright. What do you think of your final resting place?"

Wolverine held his hands out to placate his old friend. "Whatever you're going through, Morph, I've been there. The professor saved me. I'm gonna save you."

"A little late, aren't you?" Morph threw the counter at Wolverine as he fled.

Wolverine cut through the object. "You're coming with me, one way or another." He grabbed Morph by his arms.

"You want to take me back? Why?" Morph questioned him. "So we can go bowling? Shoot some hoops?" He changed his appearance to that of Jean. "Or maybe it's love you're missing."

Wolverine let go as he stepped back as Jean kept advancing on him.

"When I'm with you, all I can think about is how much I'm in love with Cyclops!" She shouted the last word as she laughed cruelly. "Who could ever love a freak like you?"

"No. Don't!" In his emotional pain, Wolverine failed to see Morph escape through a hole in the wall. When he got to his senses, he growled as he could still hear Morph's mocking laughter from the distance. He pulled out his claws and shouted in rage as he chased after Morph's trail.

The three X-Men were helping Shani repair some of the village as they listened to Shani's story about Mjnari.

"I gave birth to Mjnari, but Storm is the one who breathed life into him. The birth was difficult. The midwife helped me survive it, but the baby was not breathing.

"I did what I could, and I was fortunate." Storm said modestly. "He lived."

Shani continued her tale. "During my recovery, Storm cared for Mjnari. Storm had arrived in our village as an orphan. She left as one of us and second mother to my son. A year ago, Mjnari developed special skills, like you, Storm. But yesterday, something terrible happened to him. He changed."

"That's when we found out that some ghost was around here." Rogue figured out.

"Looks like we have a case of overshadowing." Danny realized. "Whatever ghost that's here possessed the poor boy. Why? I have no idea."

"You can sense him, right, sugar?" Rogue asked him. "You have that ghost sense of yours, don't you?"

Danny was unsure about that. "I don't think it works on people who are being overshadowed."

"Well, well, well." A new voice chimed in.

The four turned to see Mjnari in front of them.

"I never thought I would be in the presence of one of the legendary hybrids." Mjnari said. He then looked at Storm. "So you are the one the boy calls Storm."

"Who are you?" Danny demanded.

Mjnari gave a bow. "I am Vortex, the Torrent of Terror, and I have come for you, weather witch."

"What do you want with me?" Storm interrogated. "Why are you doing this to Mjnari?"

Rogue whispered in Danny's ear. "Danny, you have any experience with exorcism?"

"I could try." Danny said, remembering the time that he blasted Walker and his goons out of his classmates' bodies. He aimed a low-level ghost ray at Mjnari and fired, but the possessed boy smacked it away.

"You will have to do better than that if you want to defeat Vortex." Vortex boasted.

"Please, whatever grievance you have with my son, don't take it out on him." Storm pleaded.

"I don't have any grievances with the boy." Vortex clarified. "But I will dispose of him if you don't meet me at the mountain soon." He sped off to that destination.

"He's much stronger than I thought." Danny commented.

Storm turned to Rogue. "Rogue, help the others." She turned to Shani. "Shani, do not worry. Mjnari will be alright."

"Are you sure you can handle that ghost?" Rogue didn't want to leave her boyfriend and friend behind. "Let me come along and we..."

"Could harm Mjnari." Storm finished. "I cannot allow that. I'll need Danny's forte with ghosts in order to save him."

"And Vortex could harm you." Rogue argued. "Don't suppose I'm about to allow that."

"She's got a point, Storm." Danny admitted. "This ghost is very powerful, and we'll need all the help we can get."

Storm relented as the three flew to the mountain.

Vortex met up with the trio. "What took you so long, pretty lady? I thought you wanted to save your boy?"

"Leave my son!" Storm commanded.

"Vortex may allow it, but there's always a price." Vortex said.

"Give him back, you low-life apparition!" Rogue insulted.

"Rogue, no!" Storm held her back from attacking.

Danny was curious about why Vortex wanted to possess Mjnari. "Why do you want the boy's body?"

"To be like you, hybrid." Vortex explained. "You might not know it, but your human half is what makes you so powerful. Your emotions and desires fuel your ghost half and give you power. I want that. I want to be a hybrid."

Danny looked at Vortex like he was crazy. He wanted to be just like him and Vlad?

"But I'm already dead, so that's impossible." Vortex said. "Unless. If I can merge myself with a human body, I can be a hybrid. But not just any body. When I found this boy, I looked through his memories and learned about this woman who could control the weather just like me."

Vortex gave Storm a hungry look, desiring to take her power and add it to his own. "Imagine how powerful we could be if our powers combined together. I could spend all eternity enlightening both the human world and the Ghost Zone with my art. You are more compatible than any other human on this planet. If you give me your body, then I will give your son back."

"If you leave the boy unharmed, then I will give you my body." Storm agreed to his terms.

"Storm, are you crazy?" Danny shouted.

"No!" Rogue cried. "Don't throw your life away!"

"I have no choice." Storm said solemnly. "I must save my son." She got close to Vortex. "Do it."

In an instant, Vortex left Mjnari's body and entered Storm's.

"No!" Danny and Rogue tried to pull their friend away, but it was too late.

Storm's eyes opened, revealing them to be red, as she spoke in Vortex's voice. "Now I will be more than just a simple weather ghost! I will be a god! Eternal and all powerful! Now I shall start with Cairo and move on to what lies beyond!"

Vortex then flew off, leaving the two mutants and the ghost alone.

"Mjnari, get out of here." Rogue said to the young man. "Things are going to get nasty!"

"But Storm!" Mjnari protested.

"It's too dangerous, darling." Rogue declared. "Let us handle it."

The superhero couple flew off after Vortex and caught up to him.

"The weather witch is gone; now leave before you ruin my good mood." Vortex warned them as he blasted them with lightning.

"Alright, sparky." Rogue pulled off her gloves. "No more kid gloves."

Rogue tried to get close to Vortex, but Danny grabbed her. "No, it won't work. You'll only hurt Storm instead of Vortex." He glared at Vortex. "You're going to give us our friend back. Now there's the easy way, and then there's the painful way."

"Bring it on, half-breed!" Vortex challenged. "You think you get to be the only one?" He summoned a massive whirlwind and blew the two away.

Danny managed to steady himself and catch Rogue before she fell to the ground.

Mjnari then caught up with the two. "Are you two alright?"

"Been better." Danny said.

Rogue coughed. "Man, that is one strong spirit." She then noticed Mjnari. "Mjnari, we told you to go! You don't know how dangerous Vortex is!"

Mjnari refused to budge. "He has my mother. That's all I need to know."

"Don't worry, Mjnari, we'll get her back." Danny reassured him. "I've got a plan on how to stop Vortex and save Storm."

Wolverine continued to run through the jungle as he searched for Morph. As he ran along the path, he ended up falling into an abandoned mine. "Who took away the jungle?"

"Looks like I hit a nerve." Morph said.

"So you made me mad." Wolverine pulled out his claws. "Happens all the time. You should see me in line at the post office."

"Just a hint of what I can do to your mind." He shifted into various forms from Wolverine's past, such as Deadpool and Omega Red. "Your body heals fast. But when I'm through with you, your mind will never recover."

Wolverine wasn't intimidated. "I'll risk it."

"I wouldn't if I were you." Morph turned into Wolverine.

The two Wolverines duel with their claws.

"You might look like me, but you don't fight like me." The real Wolverine said. "Come on, give it up."

Morph turned into a puma and pounced on Wolverine, but he used his strength to push him off.

"The X-Men can help you!" Wolverine told his misguided friend as he threw him into a wall.

Morph then shifted into another animal. A rhino. He rammed Wolverine into a wall, then turned into Sabretooth. "You don't get it, do you?"

"Don't do this." Wolverine cautioned Morph.

Sabretooth ignored Wolverine's words. "Without Xavier, there are no X-Men!" He shoved Wolverine further into the wall as Logan threatened to impale his face with his claws.

"You're wrong!" Wolverine snapped back.

Sabretooth then threw him into a support beam. "Big hero. You never listen." He turned back into his original form. "I have to get through this by myself!"

Wolverine watched as Morph ran off. "Morph." He whispered. "When you're ready, I'll be there for you. The X-Men will be there."

Back in Africa, Storm was trying to fight Vortex's influence.

"Stop fighting me!" Vortex ordered.

Storm wouldn't back down. "No, I will not be used for evil, like I was when I was a child."

"You don't have a choice!" Vortex bellowed. "I'm the one with the power here! The one with the vision!"

"I may not stop you." Storm said. "But there is someone who can."

"Really, who?" Vortex taunted.

Storm didn't answer, but she was referring to Danny, who was flying towards her while invisible. When he got close enough, he turned intangible and phased through Storm's body, pushing Vortex out in the process.

Vortex pushed Danny away as he realized that he wasn't in Storm's body. "No!" He glared at Danny with all his rage. "You took away my body! You'll pay for this insult!"

He summoned lighting and electrocuted the heroic phantom. He then grabbed him and threw him away.

Danny brought up his fists. "Bring it on, you misshapen cloud!"

"Storm!" Rogue caught Storm, saving her from a nasty fall. "Are you alright?"

She brought her to the ground, where Mjnari was waiting.

Storm caressed her son's cheek in a maternal gesture. "Mjnari."

Mjnari was concerned with his mother's condition. "Mother, are you alright?"

Danny ended up landing next to them. He groaned as he got up.

"Mjnari, listen to me. Run!" Storm instructed. "Rogue, Danny, and I will deal with this."

Mjnari didn't comply. "No, I cannot leave you!"

Rogue tried to make Mjnari understand how deadly the situation was. "You have to, darling! If Vortex gets you again, he'll force Storm to do whatever he wants."

"Not if I stop him first!" Mjnari said determinedly.

Rogue admired the kid's courage, but she couldn't let him get killed. "Kid I know you're fast, but how do you plan to..."

"I got an idea." Danny said. "And it'll require him." Danny got down to Mjnari's level. "Kid, have you ever used your speed in more creative ways?"

Storm and Rogue looked at each other, wondering what Danny was planning.

Vortex was enjoying himself as he caused chaos. Huge chunks of hail rained down, with lightning and thunder joining them.

Vortex admired his work as he lay on a cloud. "Such beauty, such destruction. I simply have outdone myself."

Underneath him, Mjnari ran around in a circle at supersonic speed, creating a whirlwind that swept up Vortex.

As the weather ghost was disoriented. Danny urged Storm to attack. "Now!"

Storm raised her hands as she commanded the elements. "Great lighting, strike this blasphemous spirit of chaos for daring to think he may control it all." Lightning stuck Vortex repeatedly, eliciting painful screams from the malevolent spirit.

When the whirlwind faded away, Vortex fell to the ground. "What is this? I'm the one who controls the elements!"

Danny floated over to him and summoned three duplicates. "Guess they were wrong. Lighting does strike the same place more than once." The four phantoms then fired their ghost rays at Vortex, making him whimper in pain.

When they were finished, Danny called the duplicates back and pulled out a Fenton Thermos. "The forecast is clear weather for the rest of the day." Vortex screamed as he was sucked into the ghost-catching device.

Storm sighed in relief. "It's over. Good job, Danny."

"I couldn't have done it without you." Danny said humbly. "You as well, Mjnari. You're one brave kid."

"You got a heck of a son there, Storm." Rogue praised. 'I hope one day I can have a kid as brave as him.' She thought to herself. She then sent a glance at Danny. 'But a gal can be patient.'

Storm grinned. "I know."

In the morning, the three bid farewell to the villagers as they flew home.

"You think we'll find any trace of Xavier?" Rogue asked.

"That I do not know." Storm said. "But I do know that one day we will find him."

In Antarctica, Xavier managed to climb his way out of the snow that buried him. "Magneto? Are you alright?"

Magneto managed to survive as well. "I am unharmed, Charles."

Xavier looked in the distance and, to his shock, saw a rainforest. In Antarctica. "What is this place? A rainforest in Antarctica? Am I dreaming?"

"No, Charles, it is real." Magneto told him. "It's called the Savage Land, a valley hidden in perpetual mist, created eons ago for a purpose long forgotten."

Xavier then realized that he was standing up. "My legs!" He began to test out his new ability to walk.

"Strange. What would your..." He tried to fly, but found that he couldn't. "My powers! They're gone!"

Xavier tried to reach out to anyone with his mind but was unable to. "As are mine!"

"I see that I'm not the only one stranded here." A third voice said.

They turned to see another man about their age join them.

"Who are you?" Magneto demanded.

Xavier thought he recognized the man. "Wait a minute, Vlad Masters?"

Vlad looked at Xavier with interest. "You know me?"

"Personally, no." Xavier replied. "But I do know a friend of yours, Daniel Fenton."

Vlad nodded in understanding. "Ah, you must be this Charles Xavier that he mentioned to me."

"I am. May I ask what brought you here?" Xavier asked.

"I detected an abnormal energy, and I came here to investigate." Vlad explained. "Unfortunately, I ended up lost here with no transportation for miles upon miles."

Xavier turned to Magneto. "You seem to know this place. Perhaps you know a way out of here."

"I thought I did." Magneto said. "But nothing about it ever affected mutant power before."

"Or ghost powers." Vlad murmured quietly.

"Perhaps, whoever lured us here is responsible..." Xavier stopped as he saw two men riding on pterodactyls flying towards them. The three men attempted to get out of the way, but Magneto was caught in one of the dinosaur's claws.

"Let him go!" Xavier threw a boomerang, which one of the riders had dropped. It hit the pterodactyl, making it drop Magneto, who fell into the ocean.

"Magneto!" Xavier and Vlad dived into the ocean and swam after him. "Hold on! We're coming!" They managed to catch up to Magneto as they kept him from drowning. "Keep your head up. We're going to make it."

"Oh, butter biscuits!" Vlad pointed ahead, where a waterfall was.

The three screamed as they fell down it.